Sentences with phrase «icy particles»

Although they may look solid, the rings consist of billions of icy particles ranging in size from a grain of sand to a house.

More startling, Cassini found that Enceladus, just one - tenth the size of Titan, is also active, venting water vapor and a spray of fine icy particles from cracks at its south pole.

Researchers will soon begin studying data from Cassini's gas analyzer and dust detector instruments, which directly sampled the moon's plume of gas and dust - sized icy particles during the flyby.

We can't wait to see how those seasonal changes affect the dance of icy particles as we continue to observe in Saturn's rings with all of Cassini's different «eyes.»»

51 Ice Volcanoes Seen On Saturnian Moon NASA's Cassini probe showed a geyser shooting jets of water and fine icy particles hundreds of miles into space...

Carolyn Porco, leader of the Cassini imaging team, says the ring pictures may even help us figure out how Earth formed: «If we understand how icy particles in the outer solar system behave, then we can refine our understanding of how the early solar system formed from that same material.»

The first inkling we had of any activity on Enceladus came early in the mission, in January 2005, when we discovered a plume of icy particles coming off the south pole.

Astronomers have detected such icy particles before, Watson says, «but what's new here is that we've seen them as definitely belonging to the proto - planetary system we're looking at.»

The temperature of the stratosphere is one of the key factors in the springtime depletion of ozone above the Antarctic where in winter it gets colder than anywhere else on Earth, encouraging icy particles to form in polar stratospheric clouds.

Chlorine monoxide, which is produced by a similar series of reactions involving icy particles in the stratosphere, is blamed for the springtime depletion of ozone above Antarctica.

False color Cassini image illustrating the jets of fine icy particles erupting from the south polar region of Enceladus.

Our laboratory experiments show that methyl isocyanate can indeed be produced on icy particles under very cold conditions that are similar to those in interstellar space This implies that this molecule — and thus the basis for peptide bonds — is indeed likely to be present near most new young solar - type stars,» said Niels Ligterink at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands.

The scientists traced these particles» origin to Saturn's E-ring, which lies between the orbits of the moons Mimas and Titan and whose icy particles are known to come from Enceladus.

Saturn's icy 246 - mile - wide moon Mimas (near lower left) appears tiny by comparison to the planet's rings, but scientists think the all of the small, icy particles spread over a vast area that comprise the rings are no more than a few times as massive as Mimas.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft discovered hydrogen in the plume of gas and icy particles spraying from Saturn's moon Enceladus.

Alternatively, they posit that small, rubble - pile moonlets could be transporting the dense, icy particles as they migrate within the ring.

Data published in March showed a geyser on Enceladus shooting jets of water and fine icy particles hundreds of miles into space.

The changing sunlight causes the temperature of the rings — which are made of trillions of icy particles — to vary from season to season.

The foreground action here comes from another Saturnian moon, 310 - mile - wide Enceladus, which emits huge jets of icy particles, here dramatically backlit by the sun.

Left alone, friction inside the ring would cause its icy particles to spill out both on the inner and outer edges.

Now, with the latest results from an icy particle detector at the South Pole, scientists are almost certain that there is no such particle.

Planets shrouded in clouds full of icy particles, like Venus and Jupiter, for instance, are very reflective.

Without these, friction would make the icy particles spill out at the edges, causing the ring to broaden and eventually disperse.

The finding implies the fine spray of water vapor, icy particles and simple organic molecules Cassini has observed coming from fractures near the moon's south pole is being fed by this vast liquid water reservoir.

Enceladus» southern polar region is also home to occasional jets of water vapor and icy particles (with traces of carbon dioxide and monoxide, volatile gases, and hydrocarbons) that spew from vents within the moon's so - called «tiger stripe fractures,» which create a huge plume of vapor and icy particles that extends into space and affects Saturn's magnetosphere.